Save a Whale, Save a Soul, Goes the Cry

[Judi Lynn]

Save a Whale, Save a Soul, Goes the Cry
By NATALIE ANGIER
Published: June 25, 2010

When the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission ended on Friday with the 24-year ban on commercial whaling still intact, however tenuous its hold and leviathan its loopholes, sighs of relief issued from many quarters — along with, no doubt, a volley of whistles, clicks and proudly parochial squeals.

After two years of transcontinental haggling, the commission had been expected to replace today’s hunting ban with limited hunting quotas. Supporters of the policy change had argued that by specifying how many whales of a given species could be sustainably harvested over a 10-year period, and by tightening or eliminating current loopholes through which whaling nations like Japan and Norway kill the marine mammals for “scientific” and other purposes, the new measure would effectively reduce the number of whales slaughtered each year.

Yet many biologists who study whales and dolphins view such a compromise as deeply flawed, and instead urge that negotiators redouble efforts to abolish commercial whaling and dolphin hunting entirely. As these scientists see it, the evidence is high and mounting that the cetacean order includes species second only to humans in mental, social and behavioral complexity, and that maybe we shouldn’t talk about what we’re harvesting or harpooning, but whom.

“At the very least, you could put it in line with hunting chimps,” said Hal Whitehead, who studies sperm whales at Dalhousie University in Halifax. “When you compare relative brain size, or levels of self-awareness, sociality, the importance of culture, cetaceans come out on most of these measures in the gap between chimps and humans. They fit the philosophical definition of personhood.”

How much more personable can you get than to wave the flag for tribe or team? Among sperm and killer whales, Dr. Whitehead said, “there’s a feeling of what one might call ethnicity or cultural identity, of saying, ‘This is my clan, and it’s different from the others.’ ” One way whales express their ethnicity is through dialect. Every clan has its signature call, and in regions of the ocean where two clans overlap, the differences between calls become exaggerated. “It’s like if you’re Irish and you run across someone who is Scottish or Welsh,” said Dr. Whitehead. “You’ll speak with an even stronger Irish accent to make it really clear whose group you belong to.”

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/weekinreview/27angier.html?ref=world

[Goldstein1984]

1. I'm going to put in my regular plug for the...

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Some see them as too aggressive and confrontational.

My donations are directly proportional to how aggressive and confrontational they are.

They are, after all, protecting sentient beings.

I believe we'll look back with shame.

I'm ashamed now.

[awoke_in_2003]

5. +1000. nt

[voteearlyvoteoften]

2. rec for "the clients"

as Capt Watson calls the whales

[MisterP]

3. then again, the Japanese right wing has had a horrific record with acknowledged humans nt

[Cetacea]

4. The clan of sperm whales in the gulf are severely threatened

As we have seen with different pods of Orcas, there are distinct and unique behavors from pod to pod. The gulf sperm whales are smaller than other sperm whales and have distinctive vocalizations.

Due to their human-like gestation periods a loss of just three could wipe them out. We already know of one, and in the video link I am posting we can see another who probably won't make it. The baby that washed up on Florida's eastern coast was more than likely from this group as well...

http://bpoilslick.blogspot.com/